All Apologies

Hi Pat,

Finally, I’m back. I was watching the races from Road America over the weekend, an I got to feeling awful that I was letting this site languish! Sorry I have not really lived up to my self-proclaimed biggest! fan! ever! hype of years back! And I do not want to give the appearance of being a fair-weather fan, which I am not. I just had no idea how true the title of the last entry would turn out to be, “The Year of Me.” Hee!

So the trip for the first 2 weeks of April was AWE. SOME. I can finally tell you that we went to B3irut, L3banon! That’s where my father was born and raised, not coming to the US until he and my mama were about to have me in 1961. My dad died in 2008, not long before I started this little bloggy project, and this trip is something Daddy and I had always talked about doing together. And something I’d dreamed of all my life. So when I found out all the relatives I was trying to hook up with around Europe were all planning to gather in B3irut, right around my birthday, no less, all Le Mans plans were off, and the trip to B3irut was on!

It was only slightly complicated by the fact that I have a top sekrit gubmint j0b and all. Just some extra paperwork, and a cliffhanger of a wait for the final layer of approval which came the night before departure. And we were off! Oh man, it was completely fantastic. I met all kinds of cousins I’d never met before, stayed in the home of my dear auntie with all her kids and grandkids, went walking thru the C3dars, down by the sea, and everywhere in between. I met some car people! And saw all manner of incredible cars. Those L3banese are some car-lovin fools! My daddy came by it honestly.

We went by the street that bears our family name, saw my parents’ first apartment, met the ancient auntie I’d heard about my whole life, saw the chapel where my parents were married, on the corner of what used to be the old family homestead, back in better days. Now all that’s left is the old family chapel (actually a stunning piece of 1960’s avant garde style) that’s been turned into a little neighborhood church. My grandparents are entombed below in what used to be a basement chapel – now storage! Kind of sad, but still good to “see” them, see this place, see all these places.

Some decent drivers took the wheels of various conveyances, and it’s hard to say which was more exciting, the wild-west inner city driving, or the wild-west-plus-livestock-and-deadly-drops-with-no-guardrails mountains. Obviously, the latter. We saw ruins of ancient palaces; we ate like kings and queens. And we had birthday parties! Several of them, one for each of us, with a different kind of cake for each. Stout Arabic coffee. Mmmm. I came home with my own coffee pot and enough training to do it right for myself here at home.

OK well anyway I could go on for WEEKS. Enough about that.

Then right back home and into a patch of really crazy time at work. I had a HUGE challenging assignment, which I may have referred to in the past. Professionally, it was one of the biggest challenges of my career. All eyes on me. Gladiator suit? CHECK. Oh, I was readier than ready. I was Olympics-ready. I completely kicked ass every step of the way, won every little battle. Kicked the entire thing’s ass every step of the way! But the big decision at the end? Oh man, I lost that bigger than SHIT. I lost. I HATE LOSING.

Yeah, I know, you do too!

I have been keeping at least a corner of an eye on you and the Flying Lizards over the year, and man, it’s been rough. Did I jinx you by rooting against you? Remember, Pat, the blog has your name in it, but it’s all about… (say it with me)….ME! Yes. So. Really crazy year out there in GT! We saw it coming over the end of last year, all the other marques finally got their $hit together and they have mounted a serious challenge to Porsche this year. When it’s not random stupid luck or crazy conditions, it’s mechanical crap, something you guys have not had to deal with as much in previous years.

Well I was going to try and come here and write a quick note, but I am constitutionally incapable of writing you a quick note, it seems. So I’ll just have to end abruptly and come back with photos and further catching up and commiseration on the whole concept of feeling good about all the work that went into fucking NOT WINNING.

Have you seen “Senna,” the just-released long-awaited documentary about Ayrton Senna? It’s rolling out all over the world, the past week or two in the US. It won Sundance for documentaries. I get to see it this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it!